Kaspersky Launches Its Free Antivirus Software Worldwide (engadget.com)

Kaspersky has finally launched its free antivirus software after a year-and-a-half of testing it in select regions. From a report: While the software was only available in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China and in Nordic countries during its trial run, Kaspersky is releasing it worldwide. The free antivirus doesn't have VPN, Parental Controls and Online Payment Protection its paid counterpart offers, but it has all the essential features you need to protect your PC. It can scan files and emails, protect your PC while you use the web and quarantine malware that infects your system. The company says the software isn't riddled with advertisements like other free antivirus offerings. Instead of trying to make ad money off your patronage, Kaspersky will use the data you contribute to improve machine learning across its products. The free antivirus will be available in the US, Canada and most Asia-Pacific countries over the next couple of days, if it isn't yet. After this initial release, the company will roll it out in other regions from September to November.

Comments

At least I can avoid it if I want to!

[Anonymous Coward]

At least I can easily avoid using this software, if I don't want to use it.

The same can't be said about systemd. If I install Fedora, or Ubuntu, or Debian, or most other major Linux distros then I will have systemd forced upon me.

Yeah, I know, I could use an archaic distro like Slackware, or a pain-in-the-ass distro like Gentoo, or a niche hobby distro like Devuan. But if I'm forced to use one of them then I might as well just move to FreeBSD instead!

In terms of malware that affects or could potentially affect me, I consider systemd to be at the top of the list.